“Ashton,” she says softly. “He didn’t actually do anything. He didn’t get the chance. There are no charges to be pressed. It doesn’t matter what you said. If I try to go up against someone like him in court, he’ll bury me. I’m smart enough to know that.”
“So you’re just going to let him get away with it?”
“Did I say that? Did he look like he was having a good time when he slinked out of here? Besides, I have other ways of making sure he never touches another woman without her consent.”
A wave of terror passes through me, even though her threat isn’t aimed at me.
“Okay,” I relent. “Let me drive you home at least.”
Allie quirks a brow, letting me know that was the wrong thing to say, so I put my hands up in surrender. “Never mind.”
She lifts her lip in a satisfied smirk and goes to leave, but turns back around. “Why did you come back?”
“Do you want the real answer or the one I told myself in my head?”
She thinks for a moment. “Both.”
“I forgot my laptop. But…really I just wanted an excuse to see if you were still here.”
“I see.” She turns again and walks out, and it’s only when I hear her heels clacking against the wood floor that I realize how stupid that was. What if Craig didn’t actually leave? What if he’s waiting outside in the shadows, ready to grab her? I fly out of the office so fast that I don’t even notice Allie until I smack into her. I look down, and her eyes are swimming.
“Let me at least walk you to your?—”
“You need to call someone about the do?—”
We both speak at the same time, stopping when we realize we’re talking over each other. Allie looks me up and down, determination flickering in her gaze. “Fuck it,” she says, standing up on her tiptoes and bringing her lips to mine. I press back instinctively, allowing her tongue to slide along the seam of my lips. I open my mouth, granting her access and our tongues entwine as she walks me backward, still on her toes, through the open door, until I’m against the wall in my office.
“Allie,” I whisper against her lips. “You’ve been through a lot tonight.”
She tilts her head up to look at me, fully breaking the kiss. “Typical,” she scoffs. “A man telling me what I should feel.”
“No, that’s not—” I bring my forehead down to meet hers. “I don’t know what this is,” I admit so quietly that I think maybe she didn’t hear me until she responds.
“Me either.”
“Then maybe we should wait until?—”
“Until what?”
“I don’t know, Allie.” I scrub a hand over my face. “I’m trying to be a good guy here, but I can’t think straight.”
“Then stop thinking,” she says, moving back and kicking hershoes off one by one. “I was scared, Ashton. Hescaredme. I won’t let him have anything else. I won’t give him any more power. This ismydecision. The choice he tried to take from me. I’m making it for myself.”
Before I can stop myself, I cross the space between us, pressing my palms against her cheeks as I take her lips again. They’re sweet and warm, andeverything.
“You’re supposed to hate me,” I mutter against her.
“Oh, I do.”
“Doesn’t feel like it.”
“No?” She breaks the kiss and closes the door to my office. “We’ll have to change that then, won’t we?” She nods to the chair. The same one I sat in when she was fixing my hand. “Sit.” The same one-word command from earlier. Why does it feel like I’m going to regret every single time I was a smug asshole to her over the past month?
I sit on the chair and look up at her, waiting for her next move. “Good boy,” she murmurs so low that I have to wonder if I just imagined it.
She brings her hand behind her back and I hear the telltale sound of a zipper. She brings her skirt down—slowly—so slowlyuntil it’s at her ankles, then kicks it off to the side. Then she undoes her blouse one torturous button at a time. When she finally gets to the last button, she shimmies out of it and throws it on the floor. My cock strains painfully against my pants as I rake my eyes over her. I think I actually let out a whimper when she unclasps her black lacy bra and it drops to the floor, giving me a view of a third tattoo I've never seen before—a thin line thorny rose that snakes up her ribcage. There’s only a tiny scrap of fabric left on her body as she takes two calculated steps forward. When she’s close enough that I can smell her arousal, she bends down and slips her panties off, bunching them in her hands before tossing them to the side with her other clothes. I keep my eyes glued to hers. This isthe first time I’ve seen Allie completely naked. I’m not convinced I won’t come in my pants the second I look at her pussy.
“What do you want, Ashton?” Her words suck the air out of my lungs. As icy as her exterior is. As much as she wants everyone to believe she lacks the beating organ she hates so much. She still cares about whatIwant.
